United Insular States
The United Insular States of Achipel (UIS), commonly known as the United Insular States or Achipel, is a federal republic composed of 27 island states, which are made up of 51 islands in total and an autonomous overseas dependency. The island group is commonly referred to as the Antilles and is located in the Caribbean Sea. A total area of 2,740,122 km² is currently claimed by the country, only 221,755 km² of which are inhabitable land area. It is inhabited by around 43.6 million people, making it the Americas’ sixth most populous nation and the ninth largest country in the world. Its capital is Paradí, located on the island of Cuba, and its largest city by population is Santo Domingo. The country does not share borders with any other country and is only bordered by the Gulf of Mexico to the northwest and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Nearby countries include Unia Saul, Luraqau, Lambrinia and Portinabia. After the Cuban Crusade in 2019, several island nations of the Lesser Antilles, overwhelmed and widely destroyed by the Cubans, decided to form the Union of the New West Indies among themselves to mutually rebuild their nations and ensure security and solidarity within the region. On 29 March 2019, they founded a federal republic comprising twenty-four island nations of the Lesser Antilles. The liberation of Puerto Rico and the overthrow of the Cuban government under Raúl Castro by a US-led military coalition led to the accession of Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Haiti and the Dominican Republic to the Federation of the Lesser Antilles, eventually forming today’s United Insular States on April 28, 2019. The transitional government of Cuba under Andrés Herrero finally acceded the UIS, under the condition that the capital of the latter be moved to Havana, which is now called Paradí. In the 2050s, the Federal Department of State initiated an expedition to colonialize the Mediterranean, bringing the Maltese islands and Cyprus under the UIS Federal Government’s rule. Over the next years, with growing uprisings and separatist movements in the United States of America, Russia and Europe, the United Insular States were continuously gaining influence on world politics and became an internationally respected and relevant power. Nowadays, they maintain stable diplomatic and economic relations to the European Union, the Gulf Cooperation Council and ASEAN. They are a globally leading force in politics, science and economy, and are said to currently have one of the largestest economies in the world with a GDP of $22.8 trillion in 2141. Etymology The exact origin of the name Achipel remains unknown. The name first appeared in a contract between Grenada, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Lucia, the ABC islands and the former Venezuelan dependencies of Los Testigos and Nueva Esparta establishing a free trade area. It is assumed that, due to the linguistic differences between the islands, the founding nations of said area derived the name from the Dutch or French word archipel, meaning ‘archipelago’. In the first recordings of this contract, the letter “r” was still included in the name; however, a theory naming the linguistic influence of creole languages as a contributory factor for the loss of the letter “r” in the modern name is widely accepted. History The Cuban Crusade In May 2017, the Cuban government under Raúl Castro decided wanted to expand their borders by invading the neighboring island of Hispaniola. As the Haitians and Dominicans were still weakened by a severe hurricane named Irma, the Cubans achieved a landslide victory against the Haitians and, within a few weeks, captured their capital Port-au-Prince. By November of the same year, the Cuban forces successfully conquered the entire island and claimed the entire Haitian and Dominican territory as “rightful territory of the Republic of Cuba”. Being in good standing with the Kreml, the Cubans were furtively given military aid by the Russians to fortify their rule on Hispaniola and continue their crusade against other island nations of the Antilles. Over the next few months, the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces overthrew further eight governments of the Lesser Antilles. Several UN General Assembly and Security Council debates and votes were held, but each resolution to the detriment of the Cubans were vetoed by both Russia and China. Despite having to deal with a growing separatist movement in California and poll ratings of the Republicans reaching an all-time low, US President Donald Trump issued an order to intervene in the war he dubbed the Cuban Crusade on July 9, 2017. Their intervention quickly gained approval by other governments including Mexico, France, the UK and Spain. On August 5, French president Emmanuel Macron also followed the US’ and UK’s example and declared war on the Cubans and Russians. With additional aid by the British army, American and French soldiers managed to recapture several islands from the Cubans, including half of Hispaniola and Jamaica. In February 2019, Cuban soldiers slowly admitted their atrocities. Over a few weeks, disobeying the orders of First Secretary Castro to hold their positions and defend their captured territories, many soldiers began to retreat back to Cuba – while many also fled to Florida and Mexico. However, the Russians refused to hand Puerto Rico back to the US and deployed even more troops in San Juan. Various islands across the Caribbean basin began reinstating their own sovereign governments, but many were unable to remain stable over the long haul as a lot of their cities, including some nations’ capitals, had been razed to the ground. Later the same month, Raúl Castro’s government was overthrown in a joint military coup arranged by the US, France and the UK. Establishment of the United Insular States With the fall of Cuba and immediate danger averted, the newly sovereign island states of the Lesser Antilles founded among themselves a political union they named the New West Indies. Only a few weeks later, seeing that a political union might not suffice to rebuild the region both economically and socially, the same twenty-four island nations established today’s federal republic which they originally named the Antillean Federation. Since the 29th of March 2019, stability recovered ground within the Caribbean and the last US soldiers left the area; however, the fight over Puerto Rico continued. A plummeting GDP and missing foreign investments nudged many nations of the Greater Antilles to accede the Antillean Federation as well. Only one month after its formation, the federation enlarged and was renamed to United Insular States on April 28. By that time, all islands within the Caribbean basin except for Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Bahamas, the latter not having been involved into the conflict, made up the United Insular States of Achipel. Seeing that Caribbeans rebuild their countries and established one of the now most influential nations in the Americas, the Cuban people demanded their government follow suit and join the UIS to complete Caribbean unity. As the Cuban government wanted to smother such a thought in the cradle, a libertarian-led militia instigated nationwide uprisings against the government. During the so-called August Revolution, the Caribbean Unity Movement of Cuba ended their protests by achieving to overthrow the transitional government previously installed by the US. With the new libertarian Cuban government declaring their legitimacy as government of Cuba, they applied to initiate accession talks with the United Insular States. After two months of deliberation, and under the condition that Cuba retain a certain degree of independence and the UIS’ capital be moved to Havana, the island of Cuba was declared federal territory of the United Insular States on September 23, 2019. Liberation of Puerto Rico After twenty-five years of peace in the Caribbean, and a communist government heavily influenced by Russia in Puerto Rico, the UIS government under its 8th President Álvaro de Santamaria agreed to fund a Puerto Rican liberation movement. Despite a UNSC resolution proposed by the Achipelan ambassador having been vetoed again by both Russia and China, the UIS launched a military intervention in Puerto Rico which was covertly backed by the same nations that liberated the Caribbean, namely the US, the UK and France. Together with the Revolutionary Force for the Liberation of Puerto Rico, the previously mentioned liberation movement financed by President de Santamaria, the UIS were able to launch a successful military coup against Chairman Hernández and install a pro-Achipelan head of government in his place. On the 14th of August 2034, Puerto Rico acceded to the United Insular States as a constituent federal state. Unlike Cuba, the Puerto Rican government did not insist on a certain autonomy from the federal government in former Havana, which was renamed to Paradí seven years earlier. Colonization of the Mediterranean On the 22nd of April 2054, the UIS Federal Department of State and the Federal Department of Defense allocated some $15 billion to an expedition to the Mediterranean Sea. The expedition fleet, headed by Major General López Frías, was made up of two carrier vessels and fourteen smaller ships which were manned by 4,391 people in total. The navigation plan, published only in 2088, said that half of each type of ship, i.e. one carrier vessel and seven ocean liners, ought to land at different ports of each island. While one carrier and one ocean liner each landed in Valletta and Limassol, the other twelve ocean liners landed in the Cypriot cities of Poli Crysochous, Paphos, Larnaca, Dipkarpaz, Girne and Gazimağusa, and the Maltese cities of Marsaskala, Birżebbuġa, Ċirkewwa, Buġibba, Mgarr and Żebbuġ. Together with the Maltese and Cypriot authorities, all immigrants were granted citizenship to repopulate both nations, which suffered significant depopulation due to emigration and sinking birth rates. Nearly thirty years later, in 2081, the population of both nations almost doubled. In Cyprus, people of Achipelan descent even outnumbered native Cypriots. Following accession talks with the UIS federal government, dubbed as the 2nd Triple Entente by historians, the Maltese islands and Cyprus joined the United Insular States with a political status similar to that of the special administrative regions of China. On the 11th of October 2081, both nations merged and established today’s UIS Autonomous Associated State of the Maltese Islands and Cyprus (Maltese: L-Istati Assoċjati Awtonomi tal-Gżejjer Maltin u Ċipru ta’ SIU). Until today, the United Insular States remained one of the most stable economies and societies in the world. It was one of the founding members of the Central American League and the now defunct Pan-American Free Trade Agreement. The country is currently governed by a three-party coalition between the Republican Left, the Party of the Latin American Left and Los VERDES. The coalition has a majority in the Chamber of Deputies and is headed by President Néstor Halldórsson (full name: Bárður Néstor Morales Halldórsson) in his first term, who is also the first president of Scandinavian descent in the history of the United Insular States. Geology The geography in the Caribbean area varies greatly. While some islands are of non-volcanic origin and have a relatively flat terrain, others evolved from volcanic activity and have a rather undulating landscape, and still others developed from the Caribbean and South American plates hitting each other resulting in the emergence of towering mountain-ranges below and above sea level. The Puerto Rico Trench, located at the boundary between the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea off the northern coast of Puerto Rico, is the deepest point in the entire Atlantic Ocean. The country lays claim on the Greater Antilles and the Lesser Antilles, as well as the Puerto Rican bank, Trinidad and Tobago, the ABC islands, the archipelagos of Los Testigos and Los Roques, and Nueva Esparta. Its sovereign territory stretches over two tectonic plates, namely the Caribbean Plate and the North American Plate, making islands along the border of both plates prone to tsunamis and earthquakes. Climate The climate of the area is mostly tropical, given its location close to the equator, varying from tropical rainforests to tropical savannas. Some locations also feature an arid climate with heavy droughts occurring every four to ten years. Precipitation varies with elevation, island size and water currents. Warm, moist winds consistently blow from the east, creating both humid rainforests and semi-arid climates across the region. Tropical rainforest climates can be found mostly across the Puerto Rican bank and the island of Hispaniola, while more arid climates stretch across Cuba, the South American mainland’s coastline and the ABC islands. The entire region is generally sunny throughout the dry season from December through April, while the wet season from May through November entails rather frequent cloud cover, both broken and completely overcast. Air temperature is quite hot during the entire year, varying from 25°C to 33°C (~77°F to 90°F) between the wet and dry seasons. In the northernmost and southernmost regions of the Caribbean, monthly average temperatures may also fall below 5°C (7°F) during the wet season. Due to the opposed wind flows over the Atlantic Ocean, the area is prone to tropical cyclones. Generally said, hurricane season is from June to November, but they occur more frequently during the months of August and September. Hurricanes ravaging across the Caribbean usually strike first near the islands of Grenada and Barbados. The strongest hurricane to devastate the region was Hurricane Irma in 2017, which laid waste to Saint Martin and Sint-Maarten. Biodiversity The United Insular States have one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world. The animals and plants have been classified as a biodiversity hotspot due to their diverse terrestrial and marine ecosystems, ranging from cloud forests, to tropical rainforests, to cactus scrublands. The Caribbean region contains about 8% of the world’s coral reefs along with extensive seagrass meadows, which can be both found in the shallow waters bordering the island coasts of the region. Many uninhabited islands and the shallow waters around them throughout the UIS have been declared nature conservation areas by the Federal Department of the Environment, Energy and Natural Resources. Many of the ecosystems of inhabited Caribbean islands have been affected by deforestation, pollution and human encroachment throughout the centuries. According to general consensus, the arrival of the first humans in the area in the Late Pleistocene period (126,000 to 11,800 years ago) can be linked to the extinction of giant owls and dwarf ground sloths. The region is also home to dozens of highly endangered species, for example the Puerto Rican amazon, two kinds of giant shrews and the Cuban crocodile. The region's coral reefs, which contain about 70 species of hard corals and between 500–700 species of reef-associated fish have undergone rapid decline in ecosystem integrity in recent years, and are considered particularly vulnerable to global warming and ocean acidification. Some islands have arable terrain that European settlers found suitable for cultivation and agriculture. During the colonial era, crops such as tobacco and sugarcane were important staple crops for the entire region. The sugar produced from sugarcane has remained one of the most important export goods of the United Insular States until today. However, other islands were found to be unsuitable for cultivating and growing crops due to their terrain or climate, like Dominica or many of the Lesser Antillean islands, which remain heavily forested. In recent years, the natural environment of the Caribbean islands has led to a growth in ecotourism, especially on those islands lacking sandy beaches and dense human populations. However, the UIS Federal Department of Culture and Tourism prohibited foreign tourists to set foot on islands declared nature conservation areas, which may incur a four-digit fine up to $8,000. Demographics Category:Roleplay Category:Nations